The GQ+A: Lisa Ann on Playing Sarah Palin, Stripping at the Republican Convention, and Endorsing Obama

Sarah Palin may not be speaking at this year's Republican convention in Tampa, but Lisa Ann, the adult film actress, and star of Hustler's political parody porn Who's Nailin' Paylin, is slated for some stage time. During convention week, the "Favorite MILF"-award winner will be performing a pole routine as "Sarah Paylin" at one of Tampa's gagillion strip clubs, The Dollhouse. We caught up with Lisa Ann to talk about the upcoming GOP-palooza and get her thoughts on the 2012 election.

GQ: The big news is that you're heading down to Tampa for the convention as Sarah Palin... or Paylin. How did it that invitation come about? Lisa: The Dollhouse, which is a club that I'll be featured at, reached out to my agency asked, "Hey, is Lisa Ann's still doing the Palin thing? We'd like to invite her to the Republican convention." This was, like, 4 months ago, and since then, I cannot believe how many interviews I've been doing. I think it's kind of funny that Sarah Palin herself is not going. I feel like I'm her rep at this point. Like, "Hey, don't worry, I'm your double. Just stay at home and relax with your family. I'll take care of this convention thing."

GQ: Do you get the sense convention attendees really go to the strip clubs enough to bring in extra acts?Lisa: They do! I know this from girls who travel. There are some girls who only travel, just go to different clubs different times each year. During the Super Bowl, they'll travel to wherever the Super Bowl is. They'll go to all of the different conventions during Election Year, and they find it to be financially beneficial to them. So they've told me about the conventions, supposedly it gets really crowded. There are a lot of people with a lot of money there. I definitely think there's going to be a lot of people down there this year because even Republicans have come in to see me and said, "you know, we think this is hilarious." It's just light humor, after all.

GQ: So tell me about what you do during the show.Lisa: I have on a suit and the glasses with my hair up and I go out to the Eminem song that I'm in his video as Sarah Palin. I dance to that song, and it's pretty cool because the club has all the TV monitors so we can play the music video while I'm doing the show. And I've tried to figure out what Sarah Palin would listen to. So, I use songs like Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin." I have Soulja Boy's "Turn My Swag On." Just really taking things silly. And I give away some Palin products. I have Palin T-shirts now. I give out DVDs and posters of Palin, and I'll put my suit back on after the show because a lot of the guys want pictures with me in the suit so they can put it on their Facebook or whatever they choose. Because I'm dressed for once! It's really funny that they want the picture of me dressed because, of course, that's never happened to me before, except when you're on the street. But if I were to see any of those guys on the street and say, "Hey, do you want to see me with my clothes off," I'm sure they'd say yes.

GQ: So, did you have to learn how to strip for this or did you know how?Lisa: Well, I've been dancing my whole life and stripping since I was legally allowed to, so from 18 on, this has been my career. So you just switch things up with an outfit.

GQ: Any signature Palin moves in the routine?Lisa: No, but I'll tell you, I have the glasses, and I have a little wink like hers, so when I go out there and just walk around the response from everyone is so funny. It's just that first moment when they see me and they just shake their heads and laugh and smile. It's been that simple.

GQ: No Alaska-themed props?Lisa: Nope. Only because it's so hard to travel with things now. You're so limited with how many bags you can bring. My last Palin movie, which was Nailin' Paylin II, they ended up renting this huge moosehead, and had all of this animal stuff mounted. It was hilarious. I thought, gosh, it would be so cool if I could travel with these things. I want to order a sash, because in the movie I have her sash from when she won Miss Alaska. But I keep it simple because I'm limited when traveling, and I do so many other shows, as well, that I have to have such a variety of stuff.

GQ: I only heard about Nailin' Palin I. What's the plot of Nailin' Palin II?Lisa: In Nailin' Palin II, we kind of take on her next step of life, which was her doing the reality show and Bristol's baby, Bristol having a relationship. It was really just more in-depth on the family. So we did Nailin' Palin, the original, and we did Obama's Nailin' Palin, which was released on Election Day. We did Letterman's Nailin' Palin, which was released when she had all of that drama with Letterman. We did an interactive called You're Nailin' Palin because, on the road, everybody would tell me that "I want to nail Palin," so we did that. Then we did Nailin' Palin II, so we've covered all the bases.

GQ: Why do you think men like her so much?Lisa: I don't know! It actually really blows my mind. It blows my mind at how many men across the country voted just because she was so hot. I'm like, "Oh, that is so crazy." But if you think about it, years ago, it was the same with the Kennedys. A lot of women voted for Clinton because of his appearance. So, we've seen that. We've finally got to see what that's like with the male demographic and I think it's even stronger because I believe that probably more men vote than women. As sad as that is. I'm always like, "You know what, you're better off not voting. You're better off not voting, okay?" What if you buy a car and you don't do any research on why you're buying this car? What the benefits are to you? Why would you just vote for somebody without finding out what the benefits are to you?

But I don't know what it is about her. She does really have a sassy way about her, and I think that's part of it. Did you watch the movie Game Change when it came out on HBO?

GQ: Yes. Very good.Lisa: How good was that? It was so good. I really enjoyed it. First movie in a while when I couldn't move. How good was Julianne Moore in the movie? You forgot it was Julianne Moore. She was amazing.

GQ: It's been a year since we last talked. What else have you been up to?Lisa: So many things. I've been shooting. I've got myself an apartment in New York, and I've been dividing my time between New York and L.A. and the road. I'm working really aggressively on writing a book, I've found that I'm just more inspired here in New York. Everything in L.A. is just so busy, and you don't really get that time, where here, it's a fresh start. We're not shooting here. It is a working city, and I can equally just go to the bridge and take a walk, and the come back and get right back to it. It's a really personal story to talk about your first forty years of life, so it's so time consuming. Hours.

GQ: How are you liking New York living?
Lisa: I love it. New York's great. I'm in Midtown, in Times Square, so I really blend in e because everybody's so busy looking around at all of the buildings and all of the scenery. I can walk around without people bothering me, because everybody's doing their own thing, you know what I mean?

GQ: Do you get recognized on the street normally?
Lisa: Everywhere I go. Everywhere. It's so crazy. Just the other day, I was trying to get a cab, and I'm standing on the side of the road, and these two guys roll up and they're like, "Lisa, where do you want to go? We'll take you." I was like, "It's very sweet of you two to offer, but no woman in her right mind would get in the car with you two right now." They're like, "Oookay." I get stopped in all the shops, all the restaurants. It's funny because I get recognized more here than in L.A., and I think that's because here you're walking and you're in a mix of people. In L.A., it's like car to destination, and destination to car. I don't really mind it. Everyone here's been great, and the most they want is a picture. You just hope you look decent enough to feel good about taking them.

GQ: You would think that some men would not want to admit that they recognize you ... Lisa: You know, I've watched that transition over the past 20 years, and it's amazing. Even women approach me now. I was just at a little rooftop lounge the other afternoon, and a woman came up to me. She goes, "I love your work!" The comfort level of people approaching us has changed. Back in the day, guys would look at you and they'd feel really guilty and they'd look away. So, really, I have to reward them for being open enough sexually to admit that they watch it. For me, I don't want anyone to ever feel like a pervert or a weirdo or that I look down on them in any way, shape or form because, wow, they feel comfortable enough to go talk to me right now, and that's them admitting what their life is like, especially women and especially couples. So, it's up to me to take it on the chin and be like, "Well, I've got to spin this as positive as possible so they don't feel creeped out or they don't feel like they're doing anything wrong."

GQ: What do you make of the two campaigns so far this year? Lisa: I do, and I'm for Obama. It's hard work, keeping up. You have to be reading a bunch of different news online. You can't go by these commercials and you can't go by even the news that's being put out there, it's just constant propaganda. It's sad because a lot of people don't take the time to do their homework and they just go off of these negative advertisements. In other countries, they don't allow the negative back-and-forth. They just talk about what they're going to do. So, it's hard, but I'm comfortable with what Obama has done. I don't think people realize the president has a little less power than you think, and that the president is fixing things that were put into effect 5, 10, 15 years ago. Things don't happen overnight. It doesn't. The economy is based on the stock market and the stock market is based on things-- like right now, there's a low inventory in New York, and they're saying that people who want to buy so badly are those who are inflating the prices of homes again, because they're making multiple bids to get the place they want. So it shows you that it has nothing to do with the president. It has to do with the buyer. You've got to read a lot. You really do. And it's hard to say you're 100% anything, whether it's Republican or Democrat, you know. It's hard to pick one because there are so many things you believe in from both parties. Then you have to weigh it out and go, "Okay, where do I feel the strongest?"